Accelerator control



v June 23, 1942. J. o. OBERG 2,287,704

ACCELERATOR CONTROL Filed Jan. 27, 1941 INVENTOR. JOH/V 0. 055/?6 wa jfiATTORNEY.

Patented June 23, 1942 ACCELERATOR- CDNTRGL John 0. Oberg,-Kenosha,Wis., assignor to Nash- Kelvinator Corporation, Keno sha, Wis, acorporation of "Maryland Application January 27, 1941, Serial No. 376101'5 Claims.

This inventionrelates to an accelerator control and has particularreference to means for connecting the accelerator pedal of an automobileto'the throttle of the automobile by means of a cable in such amanneras'to smoothly acceleratethespeed of the automobile when theaccelerator pedal is depressed.

It is an object of this invention to provide means for. connecting thethrottle of an automobile? to the accelerator pedal by means of a cableso that the initial movement in depressing the pedalwill producerelatively less movement of the throttle than will later increments ofmovement of the pedal.

It is another object of this invention to provide means for .Iconnectingthe accelerator pedal of an automobile to the throttle of the automobilein such a way that a sudden movement of the accelerator pedal will notcause the throttle to be suddenly opened.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from aconsideration of the following description and claims and the attacheddrawing, of which there is one sheet, and in which Figure 1 represents afront elevation of the dash panel of an automobile as viewed from themotor compartment;

Figure 2 represents a sectional View taken along a plane indicated bythe broken line 22 in Figure 1; and

Figure 3 represents a side elevation of the throttle control mechanismas connected between the accelerator pedal and carburetor of anautomobile.

The structure disclosed is similar to that disclosed and claimed in theco-pending application of Robert Stortz, Serial No. 351,928, filedAugust 9, 1940, and the invention involved in this applicationconstitutes an improved in the structure illustrated in thatapplication.

The drawing illustrates the dash panel ll] of an automobile which may becovered on each side by pads of heat and sound insulating material I2(see Figure 2). A socket member [4 is provided with an integral pinportion l6 which extends through the dash panel 10 and the insulatingmaterial l2 and is secured in place by a nut and washer at I8. Thesocket member I4 is provided with an internally threaded aperture withinwhich the externally threaded plug 22 is rotatably received. The plug 22is provided with a central aperture through which extends the end of athrottle shaft 24. Secured as by welding in an arm 26 which carriesanarcuate ramp 28. A spacing'washer '30 ispositionecl between the end ofthe arm 26 and the plug 22 and-the shaft 24 is secured to the plug bymeans of a nut 32 threaded on the end of the shaft before the'plug 22 1sthreadedinto thesocket member M. The

forward end of the throttle shaft 24 extends formounted onthe top of aninternal combustion motor (see Figure 3).

The ram'p'28 is generally channel shaped in cross section, having aninner flange 38 which is 'welded or otherwisesuitably secured to the arm26. One end of the webbed portion of the ramp 2% is bent upwardly toform a stop 40 which is pierced to receive the metal screw 42 by meansof which the end of a throttle cable 44 is secured to the ramp. Thecable 44 extends upwardly through a hole in the webbed portion of theramp and then along the surface of the ramp from which it extends to apulley 46 pivotally supported on the dash panel II]. The cable 44 isdirected around the pulley 46 and downwardly to an accelerator pedal 41,the selectively operable portion 49 of the accelerator being mounted ontop of the toe board 51 which is connected to the lower edge of the dashpanel I0.

Attention is particularly called to the fact that the arcuate ramp 28 isnot concentric with respect to the center of the throttle shaft 24. Thefront of the ramp from which the cable 44 extends to the pulley 46 isfurthest removed from the shaft 24 while the end of the ramp 28 to whichthe cable is attached is closest to the shaft 24. Initial movement ofthe cable 44 while the ramp 28 is in a position corresponding to theclosed position of the throttle, illustrated by the full lines in Figure1, will act tangentially along the ramp at its greatest radial distancefrom the shaft 24 and will result in limited angular movement of theshaft. As movement of the cable and ramp continues, the cable willunroll along the ramp and act tangentially along the ramp at pointssuccessively closer to the shaft 24 (see the position of the cable andramp shown by the dotted lines in Figure 1). Each successive incrementof movement of the cable will result in successively greater incrementsof angular movement of the shaft.

It should therefore be obvious that the first unit movement of the cable44 will cause less anto the throttle shaft 24 forwardly of the plug 2255 gular displacement of the throttle than will later unit movements ofthe cable 44. The result of this construction of the ramp 28 is that thefirst movement of the accelerator pedal will open the throttle at aslower rate than will later movement of the accelerator pedal; thus ifthe accelerator pedal is suddenly moved to its fully depressed position,the throttle will at first be opened slowly and then at a more rapidrate as the eccentric ramp 28 is swung around the shaft 24. Thisprevents a too sudden opening of the throttle which is liable to floodthe motor and result in jerky operation of the automobile.

While I have described my invention in some detail, I intend thisdescription to be an example only and not as a limitation of myinvention, to which I make the following claims:

1. In a throttle control device, a shaft rotatably supported for openingsaid throttle, an arm secured to said shaft and extending radiallytherefrom, an arcuate ramp secured to said arm and eccentrically withrespect to said shaft, a cable extending over said ramp and secured toone end thereof, and an accelerator pedal, the other end of said cablebeing secured to said pedal.

2. A throttle control mechanism comprising a rotatable member foroperating said throttle, said rotatable member having an arcuate surfaceformed thereon eccentrically with respect to the axis of rotation ofsaid member, a cable secured to said rotatable member and extending oversaid arcuate surface, and an accelerator pedal, said cable being securedto said pedal.

3. A throttle control mechanism comprising a rotatable member connectedto said throttle, an arcuate surface formed on said rotatable membereccentrically with respect to the axis of rotation of said member, astop formed on said arcuate surface at a point nearest the axis ofrotation of said rotatable member, and a cable secured to said stop andextending tangentially from said arcuate surface at the point ofgreatest eccentricity of said surface from said rotatable member whensaid member is in a position corresponding to the closed position ofsaid throttle.

4. A throttle control mechanism comprising an accelerator pedal, a cablehaving one end connected to said accelerator pedal, a shaft rotatablysupported for controlling said throttle, said cable being arranged torotate said shaft, and a ramp having an arcuate surface rotatablysupported about a point eccentric with respect to the center ofcurvature of said arcuate surface, said cable being passed over saidramp and extending longitudinally therefrom at the point of maximumeccentricity of said surface when said shaft and ramp are in a positioncorresponding to the closed position of the throttle.

5. In combination with a throttle and a control member therefor, arotatable shaft arranged to open and close said throttle, a leversecured to said shaft and having an arcuate surface eccentric withrespect to the axis of said shaft, and a cable secured to said lever andconnected to said control member for movement by said member, said cablepassing over said surface and extending tangentially therefrom at thepoint of maximum eccentricity of said surface when said shaft and leverare in a position corresponding to the closed position of said throttle.

JOHN O. OBERG.

